News tagged with 'Medical Malpractice and Negligent Care'

Medicaid will no longer reimburse hospitals for the extra cost of treating patients who are injured due to their own mistakes. For decades hospitals have been reimbursed for their own mistakes and the cost to correct them. But now, the federal government is tired of doctors and hospitals profiting from their mistakes.

Starting October 1, 2008 Medicare will no longer pay hospitals for additional care associated with 11 types of hospital-related conditions. Medicare's no-pay list has been updated from eight to eleven types of medical errors and infections.

Medical errors are costing us billions and leading to preventable deaths. That from the fifth annual Patient Safety in American Hospitals study, by HealthGrades, a leading hospital rating organization. It finds from 2004 through 2006 there were 238,337 preventable deaths among Medicare patients. That cost the program and ultimately taxpayers $8.8 billion.

Two Las Vegas clinics that gave at least seven people hepatitis C had their licenses revoked by the city Monday after they forked over a $500,000 fine. That saved the executives in charge a face-to-face meeting with the approximately 80 angry citizens in attendance who hoped someone would be held accountable for the public health debacle.

Boca Raton police today released the 911 tapes of the emergency call made by the clinic where 18-year old Stephanie Kuleba was having a medical crisis reacting to anesthesia. When minutes count to deliver an antidote, the tapes show there was a time delay.

Just how common is the anesthesia allergy that killed an 18-year old Florida teenager during plastic surgery?  IB News talks to the Ppresident of the Malignant Hyperthermia Association of America about the rarity of this genetic disorder.

Prosecutors are considering filing criminal charges in the Las Vegas clinic cases if the Court determines the actions of clinic workers who reused syringes were intended to harm. Since insurance coverage exempts intentional acts, millions in jury awards could be lost to the victims of medical malpractice.

As Nevada comes close to completing the inspection of 50 clinics for safety violations that may have put patients in danger—seven clinics have been found to have “major infection control problems, such as the reuse of single dose vials on multiple patients.

Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons is deflecting charges that he did a soft-sell on the public health outbreak in Las Vegas saying there would be more cases of hepatitis C if "gross negligence" had actually taken place at the Endocsopy Center.   And in an act of defiance, the three medical examiners board members he's asked to resign, have refuse to do so. 

Another man has joined the ranks of six confirmed cases of hepatitis C contracted at a Las Vegas area outpatient clinic. This clinic is also co-owned by Dr. Dipak Desai and his wife.

A Swiss study looked at whether pre-testing hospital patients for MRSA and then isolating them would cut down on infection. Surprisingly, that didn't have any impact on the number of MRSA infections which kill about 19,000 annually in the U.S.

Criminal charges are being considered against the Las Vegas Clinic that infected five with hepatitis C as the call goes out to find up to 40,000 other patients of the Endoscopy Center. Meanwhile the licenses of four clinics have been suspended.

With  thousands of former patients of the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada anxious about whether they contracted an infectious disease, Las Vegas city officials have shut down the center and revoked its license. So far

The  wrongful death trial of the late actor John Ritter begins in Los Angeles Superior Court today. His widow and four children are suing the two doctors involved in his care, a cardiologist and a radiologist who failed to find a tear in his aorta, a genetic condition.  They plan to set up an educational foundation in his name.

A Harvard Medical School study finds that waits for emergency rooms are up to 30 minutes, even worse in urban areas which can mean the difference between life and death.